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Nigeria is a feudalist state. Everything is controlled by gatekeepers. If there’s money there, there will be gatekeepers. If you don’t bow to the gatekeepers, you’d crumble.
These “mafias” form as a way to gatekeep, protect and advance the interests of their strong members. It’s mostly powered by gentleman agreements, spiritual covenants and fear. Most times, it’s informal.
Whenever I talk about churches in Nigeria, people get triggered. I don’t blame y’all, you’re just customers. You see your pastor moving with bullet proof car, and you think it’s for photo ops🤣. I’m not talking as an outsider, I’m talking as an insider who has seen the wars that go down in church.
Not all churches are fake, but 95% of them are.
Why do I know a lot about it? I was born at the peak of the pharma wars. My extended family is into pharma, my village is known for pharma. Most of the rich men in my village, built their houses with pharma money.
Some of you didn’t know what Nigerian pharma used to look like, so there’s no need explaining. It was a slaughterhouse. Assasination was very usual.
MOAT was violence. To maintain your moat, you had to run others out of business. Others had to sell fakes, or buy from you. People would travel to China and sign exclusive deals to protect their MOAT. It reduced when Dora began sanitizing the industry. Back then, pharma was crazy.
I was orphaned at age 10 due to the pharma wars. From my childhood, I saw assasination attempts on my parents multiple times. We couldn’t live in any of the houses we owned. My dad had several houses, but had to live as a tenant.
Unfortunately for me, I lost both parents in 5 days. My parent’s death made it to the national dailies. Their death, led me to find refuge in the hands of their big religious leader friends. I learnt close up what church business really meant. My wife is the daughter of a big pastor. Some of you attend the church. If there’s anyone who understands churches, I have the benefit of doubt.
I had to leave everything my dad owned, and move far away. Till date, my uncle runs my dad’s business. He has tried severally to bring us to at least take the house in the village, but I can’t. He himself is a big and powerful man, and fought tons of battles.
It’s almost everywhere, and you wouldn’t notice it until you want to start going big. Every industry in Nigeria, big or small has it. Even yahoo itself is run by cult groups. If you want to make it in yahoo, you must bow to them.
Why am I saying this? It’s for young boys who are chasing money in Nigeria. Don’t let anyone deceive you into joining nonsense. It’s not worth it. Keep your hands clean, and be content with what you have. Don’t turn your kids into orphans.
#Source: Mikael Bernard
